Pylon of the Month

It's been a busy month and with only eleven days to go I had a decision to make; wait until June or get a pylon up for May.  Pylon fans everywhere reading this will, I'm sure, be relieved that the latter option was chosen.  This month's pylon is a nod to current affairs, with the pylon on the emblem of North Korea featuring for May 2018.  According to Wikipedia:

The emblem features the Sup'ung dam under Mount Paektu and a power line as the escutcheon. The crest is a five-pointed red star. It is supported with ears of rice, bound with a red ribbon bearing the inscription "The Democratic People's Republic of Korea" in Chosongul characters.

The choice of a power station and a pylon is not without political symbolism:

In the late 1940s, the North produced most of the electricity in the country.  The dam symbolizes self-sufficiency in electricity: in the spring of 1948 shortly before the hydroelectric plant was added to the emblem, North Korea cut off her power network from the South.

It is, however, ironic that the only country to feature a pylon in its national emblem has a pretty patchy record when it comes to reliable power supply.  This article, "Dark nights in power starved North Korea," is one of many describing challenging conditions north of the 38th parallel.  The satellite image below from the Independent in 2015 shows the contrast between North and Soth Korea at night and does a better job than words in summarising the situation. 

So for most of us, it is a case of thanking our lucky pylons that we live in a country with a reliable electricity supply.  See you next month when I promise to get June's pylon posted sooner rather than later.